Rogue Knights
by Shaggy Rower
Summary: SYOC Closed. What do you do when there's a mission so dangerous that it'd be suicidal to send normal soldiers to handle? Send in an expendable bunch of supervillains of course! Task force Z is comprised of a ragtag group of extraordinary teenagers with incredible powers and a lust for being bad, and now they're taking on missions in the name of the government their way. God help us


"With all due respect sir, I don't think you're fully comprehending the…"

"Oh I know exactly what I'm comprehending Dr Seth. I'm comprehending that you have the audacity to come here with a straight face and appeal to this council to use children as weapons!"

Meeting room 12 of the Star City Council's office was a relatively plain room, with only a large white table and two dozen chairs for furnishing. However to Doctor Seth it felt like a courtroom as the rest of the rooms occupants looked at him with thinly veiled distaste. Directly across the table from him a middle aged man with a long grey beard continued to rip mercilessly into the project he'd spent many months of sleepless nights working on.

"The idea of trusting villains to handle matters of government importance alone is ridiculous, but to then suggest that these villains be minors is wrong on more levels than this council combined can count on its fingers! I think I speak not only for myself but on behalf of everyone here that not only will we not support your project, but we will do everything in our power to ensure it never sees the light of day again!"

Seth grit his teeth, struggling to contain his anger. Why wouldn't they listen?! He'd considered every angle, made this project both fair to the participants and helpful to the government, but these idiots were letting their first impressions of it cloud their judgement! "I urge you to reconsider Mr Pax! The practical applications are…"

"I don't give a damn what the 'practical applications' of such a vile project are! The answer is no, and that means for good! Now I suggest you take your proposal and get the hell out of here before I call the police!"

"But Mr Pax…"

"GET OUT NOW!"

There was no winning this, no chance left to bring them over to his way of thinking. With an irritated huff (because what more could he do in these circumstances?) Seth gathered up his files and skulked out of the room, his face burning with a mixture of rage and embarrassment as the assembled councils members started whispering urgently to each other the minute his back was turned. Their voices were hushed, but he could make out a few odd words.

"… must be crazy…"

"… to suggest such a thing…"

"… perhaps he needs to take a little trip to Arkham himself…"

The doors swung shut behind him, cutting off the whispered insults. Seth balled his hands up into fists, wishing to high heaven that he had a punching bag right about now, and stormed off in the direction of the exit. It was over! All that hard work, all those many late nights at the office, all for nothing!

"Doctor Seth!"

His head shot round at the sound of his name, locking in on a middle aged black woman with short black hair and a serious, determined expression who was striding purposefully towards him. If she was allowed access to the building she had to be working for the government, and by the expensive look of her suit she was probably someone very important, yet Seth couldn't think of any reason why someone like her would have business with him.

"That's me. Can I help you Miss…"

"Waller. Amanda Waller." She replied. "Come with me Doctor Seth, we have much to talk about."

By her tone it was clear she was giving an order, not a request. The mysterious lady walked of briskly down one of the corridors, and after a moment's hesitation Seth scrambled after her, struggling to keep up with the lady's powerful strides.

Eventually they reached a small room with only a single white table with two white chairs at either end, two cups of coffee and a stack of files. Amanda took a seat on one of the chairs, had a sip of coffee and then shot Seth a withering look as he remained standing with a bewildered expression.

"What are you waiting for? Sit down!"

Her tone of voice offered no room for questions, and Seth found himself sitting down hurriedly before he'd even realised he was doing it. Amanda calmly picked a file from the top of the pile and opened it, revealing a page of writing with a clear picture of him in the top corner.

"Doctor Percival Seth, born on the 2nd of April 1986 here in Star City to Mary and Hubert Seth. Studied many different forms of psychology, especially criminal, at Vaunsworth University and passed with flying colours." She flicked the page over and raised an eyebrow. "Noted for having… extreme views on the rights that should be afforded to criminals and the purpose behind the jailing system. Psychologists believe this to be related to the incident with your son a few years back."

Seth scowled. "Are you here to call me crazy too? Because I've had enough of…"

"Don't interrupt me Doctor!" Amanda replied, her voice perfectly even and yet somehow commanding the attention of a scream. Seth instantly fell silent. "Don't think so highly of yourself doctor, I have far more important things to do than grind some insignificant counsellor into the dirt. No, I am here for a much more important purpose."

"And what would that be?"

Amanda took another drink from her coffee, leaving Seth in tense silence for a few seconds. When she finished she looked directly into his eyes, her gaze cool, serious and deadly all at once.

"First let me make sure one thing is crystal clear between us Doctor Seth. What I am about to tell you is classified information, information from levels of government so high the public doesn't even have any idea they exist. Dare tell anyone what I tell you today and your brains will be all over the floor before you're finished speaking, am I clear."

A heavy atmosphere of dread settled across Seth's shoulders, and though they were the only two people in the room Seth suddenly had the feeling that an invisible gun was behind him, pointing right at his head. "P- Perfectly clear ma'am!"

The corner of Amanda's mouth twitched up into a small smirk. "Good. You're a smart man Doctor Seth, I'd hate to waste a good asset."

She closed the file on him and put it to one side, then took the next file from the pile and passed it over to him. As he opened it, finding documents detailing well known supervillains inside and records of clandestine missions performed by a group called 'Task Force X', Amanda leaned back into her chair and began to speak.

"A few years ago a group of incarcerated death row villains were brought together under my discretion. Each of them was implanted with small but powerful explosives and forced to work together to carry out important missions for the government. They were to be deniable assets that would take on high-risk missions that good, honest men and women would have likely had to die to complete under normal circumstances. Does any of this sound familiar to you?"

"It… It sounds just like my Phedre Program!"

"Indeed it does. However as similar as they may be in nature your program has a major difference from mine."

"The age range of the members?"

"That is correct. I must admit your proposal made some valid point; younger villains tend to be less well recognised than others, something greatly beneficial to covert missions, and what they lack in experience is often made up for when their opponents underestimate them."

Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing! Someone understood! Someone else recognised the benefits of his program! Someone important in fact! "Not only that ma'am, but there's lots of evidence to suggest that showing these children that there is a second chance for them and giving them experience working on the lawful side can…"

"I don't want to listen to any of that fluffy crap Dr Seth, save your breath." Amanda deadpanned, holding out a casual hand to stop him. "Don't think you need to butter me up with rubbish about 'offering them a chance for redemption' or 'showing them that there's still a place in society for them', they're nothing but little bastards who deserve to die and happen to possess abilities useful to the government. Offering them a more comfortable prison life or time off their sentence is all we care to give them. Now I like your way of thinking Doctor, you have a mind that knowns how to turn a weakness into an opportunity, but if you're to head this new project you need to steel yourself to face the hard reality of life."

"Head this new project?" Seth's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you're giving my project the go ahead!"

"In a sense, yes. However there are going to be some major changes to ensure that everything runs smoothly. First of all you will be instantly transferred to the government agency I represent, Checkmate, under my direct command. Secondly many of the rules and regulations surrounding your operatives will be changed to mirror the setup of Task Force X, including the installation of trackers and explosives along with full permission by the handler to detonate them a will. And lastly the constant observation of the operatives by yourself and other psychologists will be scrapped, there's no room for unnecessary things in my division."

"Ma'am, I really must object to that! The transfer of agencies is fine, in fact it's very welcome, and the use of trackers and explosives as a precautionary measure is something I'm willing to let slide, but continual psychological assessment is a key part of the project. The mind is an unstable thing, especially during the teenage years and for juveniles, if it's not properly cared for then there's a very high risk of the operatives suffering from a severe mental breakdown because of the missions!"

Amanda scoffed. "So what? These aren't lawful citizens, they're criminals. They lost the right to have people care about them when they decided to bring about death and misery in the lives of others. I couldn't care less if one of them has a breakdown, maybe they deserve to have a taste of pain for once."

Once again the sense of authority in her voice made all of Seth's instincts call for him to back down and accept, however he could not. One of the main reasons why he'd created the Phedre project in the first place was because of the rare data it could gather, data about the inner workings of youths with amazing abilities that turned to a life of crime. It was data he wanted for his own personal reasons, he couldn't let that aspect of his program get scrapped. Somehow he needed to turn this around!

"That's true Miss Waller, however if an operative were to have a breakdown in the middle of a mission it could blow the whole thing, and potentially bring it to the publics eyes. Surely the cost of these assessments would be worth it to increase the chances of successful missions?"

Amanda's expression never changed, though Seth could swear he saw a tiny flash of approval in her eyes. "You make a good point Doctor. Very well, how about a compromise? Psychological assessments will still be conducted as necessary after missions, however there will not be a counsellor per member. Instead you alone will carry out these assessments. Is that acceptable?"

"But how am I supposed to control the team and be its counsellor? To control them I need to be the figure of undisputed power, but if the patient feels like their counsellor has power over them it's very counterproductive to sessions. I can't do both!"

Amanda gave him a thin, wry smirk. "Don't worry about that. I have a plan in mind to leave your identity as commander anonymous. The operatives will view you as their counsellor, and behind the scenes you will control them with an alternate identity. As their psychologist you're sure to learn useful things about them to help keep them in line in the field."

"That is a blatant violation of the patient-doctor confidentiali…"

"I'm a government agent Doctor, I don't give a damn."

Seth was silent for a while, mulling over the offer in his head. Eventually he sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Very well, I agree."

"Excellent." Amanda replied with a small satisfied smile. "In that case congratulations Doctor, you are hereby transferred to my division of Checkmate. Welcome aboard. You also have my permission to assemble and lead a new division of operatives under the name Task Force Z."

"Thank you Miss Waller, it's an honour."

"I'm sure it is." She reached over to the stack of files on the table and pushed the remaining ones towards him. "Now then the first, and most important step, is to decide on which initial members to recruit. I have here documents listing the identities and powers of some of the most… promising… youths from every prison from Belle Reve to Arkham. Have a look through them now, and tell me if any of them catch your eye."

"Alright then." Seth replied, taking the first file from the top of the pile and opening it. "Let's see who we have to work with here."

* * *

 _Thank you all for the wonderful character submissions. In such a short time I received so many applications, and most of them were so detailed that it was really tough for me to choose between them. But I have now, and out of the many characters 8 have been chosen to star as the starting cast._

 _For those of you who's characters were no accepted this time around don't despair, though they might not be included yet they may appear later on in the story as the team starts to grow or if any of the current main characters are killed. All the received apps are waiting in a pile for future use, they haven't been discarded._

 _I've already planned out the first story arc, an introduction to all the main characters, and am getting to work on writing it right now. In the next chapter you'll get to meet the full cast and get to know just what they can do._

 _The full cast list is:_

 _\- Michael Jagner / Rain_

 _\- CN0N-BA11 / Cannonball_

 _\- Mark Argent / Wraith_

 _\- Jason Johnson / Shade_

 _\- Astrid Everett / Evanescence_

 _\- Courtney Martin / Lynx_

 _\- Jake Donahue / Outlaw_

 _\- Alison Rousseau / Gradient_

 _Bye for now. See you for the start soon._


End file.
